Thursday, March 14, 2013

This video about the income gap was released late last year and has gone viral. It shows how bad the income gap is in the USA by taking the ratio of the wealth and income of the top and comparing it with the bottom.

If you find it shocking how bad the income gap in USA has become, you should be aware that there is only one developed country worse than the USA when you measure income gap as a ratio of the income of those on top vs those at the bottom. That country is Singapore.

The chart shows income while the video shows wealth accumulated. ..if my income is double someone after a decade the wealth I accumulate can be 10 times what he can accumulate. ..so the wealth gap is much bigger than income gap.. .

I am surprised no one picked those figures out (not even KJ)! Any surprise this country has already become the playground for the rich and wealthy to flaunt hedonistic lifestyle and hide their stash?

Who have they been trying to please, really?

Casinos, Pangaea Club, F1 races, Sentosa Island. The only things that are still hidden from the public eyes are the high class Prostitution rings, Drugs, Money Laundering that ordinary citizens can't lay their sights on or access to.

This lack of funding for our elderly and workers is, and remains, an absolute scandal. This govt shovel off hundred millions per day, every day from this group of selfish elites and yet do so little for the slipping middle class.

Our nation is now awash in the effluvia of decade of neglect, inertia, under-funding, poorly led, and corrupted education, which manifestly reveals itself in social and political entropy.

I will rather be middle class in anywhere in the world than in spore. Spore middle class is the worst off compare to any countries. They have skimed off wealth from the bottom class and now they are skimming off welath from the middle class. Very soon they will skim off wealth from the upper class. Only the super upper class which is themselves will be immuned.

They will make HDB more and more difficult to rent out. People who are now staying in condo and renting out their hdb will find it increasingly difficult to do that. THey will have to stay in hdb and rent out their condo. They will also slowly raised property taxes to a level never seen before. There are many ways to screw the people without even touching gst. Beware of one party rules.

Recently, PAP appeared; this has to be highlighted many times to indicate appear only, to be slowly tightening the inflow of foreigners by raising the foreign levies. This is just only a piece of show staged by the PAP. In reality, PAP are doing everything they can to help the businesses to gain more profit by the following explanation.

After the PAP announcement in the budget, the business communities ganged together to complain to the PAP how high the foreign levies they have to pay which would impact on the business profit.

However, businessmen and businesswomen are secretly paying themselves high director fees, high salaries, high bonuses, high benefit-in-kinds and high dividends to themselves.

Businessmen and businesswomen are thinking to themselves that they must be cunning to present two faces - one face to show that foreign levies would impact on the survival of the businesses, thereby having the case to pressure the PAP to help the businesses to lower the business cost andanother face to secretly show their selfish and greedy nature to keep as much as possible of the profit for themselves.

As expected, PAP submit to the pressure of the business communities. Today, PAP announced that when the number of foreigners hired by the companies reach the higher tier level, that is at the level up to the quota level, the companies need not pay the higher tier foreign levies. The companies can continue to pay the lower foreign levies at the lower foreign tier, thereby saving the companies lot of money.

To have this happening, the companies have to show that the hired foreigners are skilled based on questionable standard of measurement claimed by the businesses.

Effectively, the PAP have made a group of foreigners on work permit to be cheaper to be hired.

The impact of the new PAP policies is to cause hiring of Singaporeans fresh ITE and polytechnic graduates to be more expensive relative to these business self-proclaim skilled but cheaper foreigners.

It is very worry how is the Singaporeans ITE and polytechnics graduates able to get good jobs in Singapore when these jobs are taken over by the cheaper foreigners.

This clearly show that PAP are close friends of businesses and PAP will do anything, including sacrificing ordinary Singaporean, just to support businesses, even to the extent of supporting lousy businesses, which ought to be close down in Singapore.

With so much revenues from Casinos, Rental incomes, COE, ERP, GST, Properties, Levies & $260 billions, Singapore got to raise it games, Singapore can't go back to the past depend on cheaper and cheaper foreign workers. Singapore need to develop more and more scheme to lower its income gaps?

It is not how many millionaire you have, it how you take care of the old and the poor?

Reduce the income gaps, minimum wages and inequalities? Behind all these hype many old people got to eke out a living collecting cans and cardboards?

Singapore need to reclaim back its title of been the best workers in the world, and add more been the most innovative and productive etc?

All these need lots of widely acclaim international consultants from Sweden and Denmark?

Sweden to guide our country to implement a system how to raise the local workers to highly in innovations, inventions and patents creations and the Danish consultant to develop our designers teams?

Engage world wide recognised consultants in developing our tourism industries, to be the best in the world, adding more tourist spots and raising the yield, consistently improve and find new offerings to excite the guests and continue to upgrade and train the tourist staff? Aim to have at least 23 millions high yielding tourists to come to our shore?

@Anon 00.19 As long as we have people who bleat - But what's the point of voting opposition, since they say they're not ready to be the government - we will NEVER have opposition members who are ready to be the govt!!

If you were a salesman in an MNC, do you think you can run the MNC? From your comment, 200% sure you can't.

One reason we don't have opposition people prepared to run the govt, is because so many idiot Sporeans DIDN'T GIVE THEM THEIR VOTE in the past. If more oppn pple had been voted in, in 2006, 2001 etc, you'd have a large team not just willing, but also very able and experienced after running town councils and more!!

Pity so many Sporeans can't see this. This is why Kuan Yew calls Sporeans 'daft'.

So if you want your opposition to perform well, vote them in.

How much worse can they perform than all the generals, scholars and heads of govt agencies, now in the cabinet. These people have been so mollycoddled in the past and are performing so Badly!!

Opposition members don't enter govt on the coat-tails of ministers. They are savvy street fighters. This is what this country needs. This is what helped the old guard perform so well, though they had no experience.

Sudden influx of foreigner immigrants worried many, will they take aways the locals and their childrens job?

From 2 millions populations to 5.3 millions now aiming for 6.9 millions, with many indirect taxes, or was it due to pay the ministers' pay which is around ten times the ministers' pay of Denmark, New Zealand, Switzerland & Finland etc? Why don't use better method to run the economy, as more foreign workers came the birthrate kept dropping? Due to heavy competitions of jobs?

Lucky, the chart dated from 2009, there must be a more updated version, which could be much worse as there were some major upheavals in 2010-2012 But nonetheless, how does the man and woman on the street get to understand the meaning of all these? I only fear the truth is always masked, and even when revealed, the great majority are too afraid to think of the consequences - we need someone to make a soap opera for the uncles and aunties about income inquality nefarious effects - all that the bottom 30% understand comes from thengyfrom the TV box. Alas!

There is a news report today regarding SMRT's plan to replace about 120km of power cables on the Circle Line. The new cables are suppose to withstand exposure to water and prevent power outages that can lead to train disruptions.

Replacement works have started since Jan 2013 and targetted to complete by end of 2013.

We understand you need cheaper, better & faster workers, so that you can make more profits and levies, to pay more hangouts, and your 1000 percents the pay of the equivalents ministers pay of Norway, Denmark Finland, Switzerland etc, and other indirect taxes to pay 10 times level of their salaries, but we too need a better, cheaper more efficient govt, so that we don't need to pay so much indirect taxes, worry our and our children jobs lost to the cheaper third world foreign workers?

The government’s policies set a strong foundation for quality growth and an inclusive society, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who also emphasised that a healthy economy is necessary to create jobs.

Income inequality is a natural outcome in capitalism, so it is no surprise. Income inequality by itself doesn't mean our govt is doing a bad job. For example, if we manage to grow a Steve job in Singapore, wouldn't the inequality be greater and does it means the govt is doing a bad job? No. In fact it is doing a great job of promoting entrepreneurs.

The question is whether there are sufficient wealth redistribution so that our poor are relatively well off compare to global standards, and have opportunities in education and mobility.

/// The government’s policies set a strong foundation for quality growth and an inclusive society, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who also emphasised that a healthy economy is necessary to create jobs.///15/3/13 12:53

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Agreed. But capitalism and democracy does not gel. Capitalism leans towards building empires for a selected priviledged few and destroying environment. Democracratic leaders should try their best to reduce the gap to an acceptable level.

Oh boy, everything that has happened here in the last decades have been copied wholesale from the US. The latest US melting pot immigration model came in minus the social safety nets and welfare benefits or anything that benefits us. They did not copy their civic pay model or follow the property agent's model of 1% commission on the GDP as quoted.

There is nothing that engenders discontent than feeling that certain privileges that are available to the rich are never going to be available to you. When I was growing up, my family's income rose 5x in 20 years - it was the nature of development and growth from 3rd world to 1st. Now there is no where to go, but we are pretending there is somewhere. It is an illusion.

In the old days of kings and queens, the same happen where 1% royalty owns most wealth. Then a revolution happens and redistribute wealth equally. After 50 years, the wealth again flow to the 1%. Then another revolution.

In modern days, the kings are the corporate owners. Even if you split the wealth evenly now, in 50 years, the same thing will happen.

It is just a natural evolutionary tendency for wealth to concentrate at the hands of a few.

I guess no choice but we just have to wait for the French to follow the indonesians, indians, chinese mainlanders and americans tycoons here. So when the prices of the undervalued hdb catches up to $1M and $2M, 80% of our population will become millionaires while the rest, billionaires. By then the annual gst collections will more than justify the minsters salaries. Dun need expensive old futurist to predict that.

And meanwhile, I think you see much less money spent on the things that the middle class and the poor need. That's why have this, you know, full bore attack on entitlements, right? Why is the plutocracy so enthusiastic about cutting entitlement spending? Because they don't need it. But they're very worried about their tax dollars funding it. — Moyers & Company.

15/3/13 21:54 - those french do not need to move very far, just need to move to other europeans countries. the move will create lots of jobs and businesses for the middle person. wealthy french cannot stand the lack of liberty and hence creativity here.

"Looking ahead to the next 10 years, Mr Tharman said the yuan would potentially play a transformational role in Asian finance and Singapore could make use of its strengths as a wholesale funding centre to increase liquidity and circulation of the Chinese currency in Asia."

All races must learn to eat and serve pork. The pork market is huge. Richly huge. Drool!

Wah!You must be very poor and stupid since you are working for PAP's Internet Brigade.

If you are smart, you will already too busy making money to be posting here.If you are rich, you will be busy rubbing shoulders with the rich foreign talents. Will also be too busy to come here & post.

Since the removal of the Estate Duty tax in 2008, more and more of the rich are coming here to live it up and die. We have become their "happy hunting ground", to borrow a native American expression. So the Income Gap or Wealth Disparity here keeps widening.

The number of tourists alone more times than our population before when we had the swiss standards of living of space and leisure. Can guess why our places are caving in one by one? More people now but where are our benefits actually?

Useless sinkies will die if go to war....without the robust foreigners carrying their school bags..they wil stand screaming at their cellphone for their parents to take time off from work to solve the extra weight on their back...but the parents...weak like spiders about to fuck another spider..will write to MPs instead....and their MPs will just ignore and talk his favorite cock subject in parliament....and collect their fat paycheques and then head to thaiand over the weekend to eat wet sushi in 6 stars hotel ...just to recharge from all the cock session in parliament

"but the parents...weak like spiders about to fuck another spider..will write to MPs instead....and their MPs will just ignore and talk his favorite cock subject in parliament."

nof course must write, complain and whine and continue to do so for a long long time. even they talk c**k, still must continue to complain & write letter until they cannot tahan. anyway, MPs and ministers also know how to take care of their own NS going kids. Tio bor.

it is good to have as many people like you to keep on insulting sinkies so that they will wake up.

/// The government’s policies set a strong foundation for quality growth and an inclusive society, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who also emphasised that a healthy economy is necessary to create jobs.///

Create jobs for who ? and proportionately, how many go to true blue sinkies ? most importantly, breakdown please (of the different salary scales) among sinkies, new citizens of the last five years , PRs and FTs ?

Else, nice speech & grand statement is only good to hype up the go-getting energy & positiveness of fresh graduates in their convocation ceremony.

How to reduce the ministers' pay around the New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland & Norway ministers' pay is a challenge, their pay too high is a burden to the people, which cause wide income gaps, overcrowding, too many foreigners, indirect taxes, low birth rates and lower standard of living? I think they don't mind, as a leader need to lead by example, lowering their pay to ease the income gaps, as many of the lower end pay are below poverty line for years?

Even the felt difficult to raise the pay of the lower end without productivity, so it likely more difficult to support their pay of ten times that of the pay of New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Swit$erland & Norway ministers?

Why they need this type of pay when well develop countries like New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark & Finland can run their countries well with just ten percent of their pay? Do you know it causes difficulties to the people?

LKY has created a generation that doesnt talk about its problems and the States Times and Channel News Asia are complicit in this. This country is run by a Goliath machinery that always condemns people who have a different opinion or point of view. Schools dont teach to the syllabus; they teach to the test. And we celebrate every layer of it all with a dose of hypocrisy, to the point that if there is anyone who doesnt observe this "ettiquette" of not speaking of "controversial" matters that really matters to us all...we shy away from the discussion by not contributing to it. Change is taking place incrementally but by the time the singaporean core has been diluted, they will rerun the same template with a New Singaporean People. If the government can do this now, they will do the same for the children and there is no reason to stay in a place that is changing out of control to the point trains are bloated and the government is waiting out for a new normal to be arrived at. In such a place, there is no greater meaning in life except to keep the body going till one enters the grave.

Anonymous said...LKY has created a generation that doesnt talk about its problems and the States Times and Channel News Asia are complicit in this. This country is run by a Goliath machinery that always condemns people who have a different opinion or point of view. Schools dont teach to the syllabus; they teach to the test. And we celebrate every layer of it all with a dose of hypocrisy, to the point that if there is anyone who doesnt observe this "ettiquette" of not speaking of "controversial" matters that really matters to us all...we shy away from the discussion by not contributing to it. Change is taking place incrementally but by the time the singaporean core has been diluted, they will rerun the same template with a New Singaporean People. If the government can do this now, they will do the same for the children and there is no reason to stay in a place that is changing out of control to the point trains are bloated and the government is waiting out for a new normal to be arrived at. In such a place, there is no greater meaning in life except to keep the body going till one enters the grave.

18/3/13 10:56 In short, the number of people who gets to interpret the Singapore story are working for Straits Times.

To just rely and hope for WP to be the Alternative is just too myopic and impractical.There is absolutely no need to put the hope on one who had declared that it has no wish to take over the helm. There are others to choose from, no need to put the eggs in one basket and it will be foolish to put hope in only one party.

If we want to solve social problems.We need to elect people who have a passion and interest in solving social problems.Such people are the really "well qualified" politicians.

Money motivated political leaders can never "see" the social problems because they are only interested in money and profits.They will remain "deaf to all criticism" because they are looking for money & profits.And we are looking for "justice and equality".Like duck trying to talk to chicken.

Don't try to fix them, co operate with them like the New Zealand, Nordic and Switzerland co operate with each other to improve the life of ordinary citizens, try to fix them is third world countries mentalities? Don't try to live in the past now internet age, every person have access to info, gone are the days people can only get the new from MSM, last time policeman where shorts?

Why the Nordic, Swiss& New Zealand have high standard of living, low inequality, high birth rates, most jobs done by locals, they don't try to fix each others, by fixing each others we disgrace outside, calling ourself a first world country, they try to co operate with each other to improve the life of ordinary persons. This is a mature state, we are use to four fastest growing dragon, the best workforce in world, many use to admire, if they find out we try to fix each others what do they think?

With high access to internet, not like last time many have little or no educations and only access to MSM which is control by the govt?

Now most of the younger populations are educated, last time policemen wear shorts?

When at that time their pay is not so high did they think of so many schemes to maintain their sky high salaries, don't right?

At that time where got so many scheme like CPF lock schemes, COE schemes, ERP, GST, Levies, Casinos and invented many other schemes etc. If their pay is at the level of the Nordic, Swiss, New Zealander ministers level, which is one tenth of Singapore ministers pay, they will not have to think of inventing so many schemes to support their salaries, imported people from 2 millions populations to 5.3 million now aiming for 6.9 millions, many countries with huge tract of land do not use these type of schemes to import huge amount of people because they don't need to pay themselves sky high salaries?

If their pay is at the level of the Nordic, Swiss, New Zealander ministers level, which is one tenth of Singapore ministers pay, they will not have to think of inventing so many schemes to support their salaries....

This is the root of the problem, you know too many cooks spoil the soup... See..

.. ban long hair, ban chewing gums, ban rock music, ban this and that, stop at one (?), university and professional quotas.... and after that

So since there is no sure thing or permanence in today's policies, isnt it foolish then to have so many layers of highly paid officers doing and redoing all the minute details as in job overkill? Look at HDB and all the small micro details. Clever people dun need so many layers of workers and councils of advisers, other countries certainly dun need.... only kiasu kiasi people here do!

Advanced nations as they were called, people don't recognised them as advanced nations, they are likely came from a lower base, slowly they develop their local capability and long term improvement in the local productivity, which is difficult to measure, to do high values jobs and skills, they can't use the third world countries method of cheaper, better & faster foreign workers, how fast, how cheap and how better then workers can go to race against the development of of machines and robots? You can't just spend so much tax payer money to educated them, later they emigrate to other nations and causing a brain drain?

Multi- national foreign countries usually left when they have little or no money to make to cheaper countries where there is cheaper labour? Their aim is to get cheaper and cheaper labour, so what happen they left, if we don't depend on our home grown companies or SME?

The driver may like the co driver to relief him for a while. Let the co driver takes over the steering wheel at the housing, transport or education ministry. Fresh and alert, the co driver should be able to do a nice job and show his mettle. No need for him to slap the tired driver and worry about his own safety while the driver can rest and be rejuvenated.

My late teacher once quoted this : "Put you eggs in many baskets as you can".

One of my classmate "Daft Sinkies", ask her : Why is that so ???

Teacher : You may lose all your eggs, if the basket drop due to greedy, corruptions, incompetent, etc.

Daft Sinkies : Then, how about putting them in two baskets ???

Teacher : If the first basket drop you lose some of your eggs. Now you're left with another incompetent basket who refused to shoulder any responsibility and would rather remain empty, be place in a showcase.

Daft Sinkies : How daft I am, of not thinking about that.

Teacher : That's because your parents are daft, your grandparents are daft and so were your ancestors. Bluntly said, you're the descendents of daft. And don't worry, you'll forever remain daft till the day you die. Now Shut Up and Sit Down, DAFT !!!

If and when a co-driver refuses to take over the wheel knowing very well that the driver is fatigued and dozing off. The co-driver, if he is competent and conscientious, shud relief the driver. This is to ensure the safety of the passengers as wrll as himself. Refusing to take over the driver in this case is an act of negligence far more irresponsible than the driver. And if the co-driver behaves negligently, he shud be replaced by a duty conscious and responsible one. The paxs need not have to bear with the driver and co-driver and worse putting their live to great risk.

"The White Paper stated that enough land for an additional 700,000 homes has been set aside, and more will be added in the longer term if needed.

It projects an additional 15,000 to 25,000 new citizens each year, and an additional 30,000 new permanent residents each year. Assuming the increase of new citizens averages about 20,000 each year, this works out to an additional 50,000 new citizens and PRs in Singapore each year over the next 17 years, or 850,000 in total. Assuming there are three persons per household, they will need about 280,000 housing units.

Meanwhile the average number of marriages each year has been around 25,000, which means 425,000 new households by 2030."

Cleber thinking. No over supply of new homes. See lah, Singaporean so cleber

Hence, the combined demand of an additional 705,000 housing units would match supply by 2030.

The writer goes on to say that Singapore’s residential property market already faces a near-term increase of more than 30,000 units this year and 40,000 units next year, but these 70,000 units can easily be absorbed with our demand backlog.

In fact, I believe that the supply imbalance will continue to 2030, if we go by the projections of the White Paper.

If you are on the road already paved for you, having a co driver will just ensure that their interests, and many of you, will be safe, including their car. But no one is creating new roads. They are navigating existing roads. You may have to get out of the car, get on a plane if you want to soar to greener pastures. That is not going to happen when you listen to how the influential or people in power talk

Don't have to teach Sin leaders the Sin ways. They know best and is the best in Sin ways. Look at how prosperous the people are? Smart people are rich because they know the Sin ways and they are committed in the Sin ways. If you don't know the Sin ways, you are stupid.

Be smart, learn the Sin ways. Get yourself a good education, upgrade, innovate, leverage, be productive and connect with people who knows how to prosper in Sin.

To be a bus driver, Sg'reans need to undergo months of intensive training and testing. Tested and passed, posted to depot where a follow-up training by a qualified mentor, for about a week or so. Tested and passed, then only they would be allowed to drive solo, on the public road. (However, I believe, FT's drivers bypasses most of the above. But that's not my points right now.)

Just like the incompetent PM and most of those MPs that parachuted in, or by the corrupted pulling string methods.

My questions :

1) Why until today, the idiotic Goment still need Co-Driver ???

2) Why until today, PM still need two mentors to assist him ???

3) Why until today, the Co-Driver still can't drive ???

4) Show me, which Country in the World, have such a stupid idiotic system ???

The never-ending torrent of news about economic despair and political turmoil across the world serves as a reminder of what an enviable position we occupy in the global context, and how fragile and fleeting success can be when met with complacency and a sense of entitlement.Ours is a position that has been achieved through the hard work and tireless struggle of those that came before us, and it is our shared responsibility to preserve and grow this brilliant legacy for our children to inherit.

QUOTE:Ours is a position that has been achieved through the hard work and tireless struggle of those that came before us, and it is our shared responsibility to preserve and grow this brilliant legacy for our children to inherit. UNQUOTE19/3/13 21:23

When there is work to be done, it is a "shared responsibility."

When there is money to be made, it is millions in salary for the pigs.And no minimum wage for the rest of us.

I spit on this type of legacy.My children will not be slaves to pigs.Vote Opposition for justice & equality.